Slashing the Integration Tax

By Barbara Lancaster

Slash it, cut it, or demolish it the “integration tax” has to go. At TeleManagement World, TMF Board Members used the buzz-phrase regularly, and it quickly was a fashionable topic for discussion over free martinis (thanks…you know who you are). Paying for integration isn't spending money on nothing, but like most taxes it's money you'd rather not spend. If you want a working OSS environment, however, integration is a necessary evil, which leaves service providers asking, “Why do we have to pay so much ?”

Application vendors aren't happy about the expense to integrate either. After all, integration costs are a substantial barrier to software sales. It's all well to extol the virtues of an application and drive home its tremendous value, but application vendors and their customers both know that for every dollar spent for software, it's necessary to budget another $2, $5, or even $10 to pay a systems integrator to wire it in, which will likely cost more and take more time than planned.

We suffer this cost problem in telecom, whereas companies in financial services industries, for example, don't expect to pay massively for integration. These companies buy applications that work together, selecting from a range of vendors in most functional areas. They can be reasonably confident that they can implement whatever they choose more or less on time, within budget, and with little pain. One Telemanagement Forum (TMF) insider reckons, in fact, that the telecom industry might be ‘decades behind' the leaders in the finance industry. Making the integration tax less evil and less necessary is one of the underlying objectives of the TMF, and one of the aims of New Generation OSS (NGOSS) initiative.

The Tax-Free NGOSS Fantasy
Imagine we were able to wave a magic wand and suddenly have NGOSS implemented using some of the real technology tools now available. It’s difficult to imagine, but stick with the fantasy for now. Starting tomorrow, the cost to integrate multiple OSS applications for a new operator is reduced by say 90 percent. For established telcos, the cost to unplug an application and replace it in the legacy environment is also slashed.

In this fantasy world, service providers are very happy with the reduced cost and effort to deploy OSS . OSS vendors are happy because they can offer applications knowing that the add-on charge for integration won't be a whole lot more than the cost of the software – it might only double the customer's project cost.

Would everyone be happy in this fantasy scenario? Not exactly - spare a thought for the systems integrators. If service providers pay significantly less for integration, that means they will spend less money with the companies that provide integration services. Every dollar not spent on integration is a dollar less revenue for systems integrators.

Next »   |   1   |   2   |   3   |  Subscribe

© 2004, All information contained herein is the sole property of Pipeline Publishing, LLC. Pipeline Publishing LLC reserves all rights and privileges regarding the use of this information. Any unauthorized use, such as copying, modifying, or reprinting, will be prosecuted under the fullest extent under the governing law.